oddworld – PlayStation.Bloghttps://blog.us.playstation.com
Official PlayStation Blog for news and video updates on PS4, PS3, PSN, PS Vita, PSPMon, 19 Mar 2018 13:02:58 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.4https://blog.us.playstation.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/cropped-PS-Bug-32x32.jpgoddworld – PlayStation.Bloghttps://blog.us.playstation.com
3232Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty Arrives on PS Vita January 19thhttps://blog.us.playstation.com/2016/01/18/oddworld-new-n-tasty-arrives-on-ps-vita-january-19th/
https://blog.us.playstation.com/2016/01/18/oddworld-new-n-tasty-arrives-on-ps-vita-january-19th/#commentsMon, 18 Jan 2016 16:00:22 +0000https://blog.us.playstation.com/?p=167932Hello, Oddworld fans! It’s been a little while since we’ve been here on PlayStation.Blog talking about our games, but we’re delighted to finally share the first details of our upcoming PlayStation Vita game — Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty — and explain exactly what we’ve been doing in making this version of Abe the Mudokon’s adventure.

PS Vita is a wonderful machine, and for Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty it grants us — for the first time with this particular game — the ability to build an experience designed to be enjoyed on the bus, or laid back on the sofa, or for those sneaky 10 minute distractions under the desk while your boss calls this week’s Important Meeting.

In essence, this is very much Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty — the same critically-acclaimed hit that launched on PS4 in 2014 and PS3 in 2015 — but it’s a refined, specially adapted version of the game that plays to the strengths of the mobile format, while still delivering that “AAA indie” level of polish our fans have come to expect.

For starters, we’ve reworked the controls considerably. Heaps of attention has been lavished on the individual buttons and sticks — tweaking the analog dead zones, doubling up the shoulder buttons and making sure that Abe always goes exactly where you want him to no matter what.

So, the two “old school” control settings from the PS4 version have been made the default. This means that X hops you forward, not up; and the left analog stick is used to walk, not run. For the latter to happen, you hold down the R trigger, and, similarly, the L trigger is used to sneak. Push both triggers to chant. It’s a fluid, intuitive system that takes all of ten seconds to master, and then you’ll wonder why we didn’t do that at first!

Elsewhere, we’ve kept the free aiming and throwing on the right analog stick, but while aiming a tap of the R trigger throws whatever Abe’s holding. Want to drop something on the ground instead of whizzing it through the air? Just tap the centre of the front touch screen.

Gamespeak — the revolutionary way to interact with other characters and puzzles in the game that helped make the original PlayStation version such a hit — is on the d-pad. Up for “Hello,” Right for “Follow me” — you get the idea. Want to whistle, laugh or even perform one of Abe’s hysterical farts? Simply use Triangle as a Gamespeak shift button. Again, once you’ve tried it this way, it makes perfect sense.

Of utmost importance, however, is the fact that we’ve retained the instant QuikSave and QuickLoad from the PS4 version: tap Select to QuikSave wherever you are in the game, and hold the same button to reload. It might not help your speedrunning times if you die and have to reload, but it removes any frustration that a set of three rapidly oscillating meat grinders might otherwise enforce. It also means you can Quiksave, do something else with the Vita and come back to it at exactly the same point in the game.

And speaking of speedrunning, we’ve been humbled by the response to our leaderboards in New ‘n’ Tasty on PS4 and PS3, and we’re delighted to announce that speedrunning on the go is present and correct for PS Vita. But we’ve not stopped there — we’ve been carefully watching how people have been playing the game and thrown in a few minor revisions here and there to throw you off a little.

We’ve also worked tirelessly to ensure that the visual experience on PS Vita matches up as closely as it can with the other versions. We’ve made the game look a little grittier — gone is the bloom and glow leaving an aesthetic that closer resembles the 1997 classic — while tweaking every single area in the game to suit the platform.

We’ve also improved the readability of certain items that just wouldn’t have worked on the smaller screen without some attention: mines are now painted bright red so you can’t accidentally stumble into them without blaming yourself; well leaves are bigger so it’s clearer which way you need to go as Abe attempts his temple trials; a few camera angles have been adjusted, and so on.

And of course, everybody loves Trophies, right? Well, Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty features a full rack of them, including a Platinum for those that possess the skill to save every single Mudokon in under three hours.

All this makes for what we think is a great version of Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty. One designed for gaming on the go, with the Quiksaves working hard to ensure you can dip into the game for as little or as long as you’d like per session, but one that retains all the great playability, humor, visual direction and audio from its bigger brothers. We’re excited to get the game in front of PS Vita owners, and the time to do that is very nearly here.

Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty will be out on January 19th. And after that, well, it’s on to Exoddus… :)

]]>https://blog.us.playstation.com/2016/01/18/oddworld-new-n-tasty-arrives-on-ps-vita-january-19th/feed/21https://blog.us.playstation.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/24320193435_567e2bdaf9_z.jpg3.72Executive Producer, Oddworld Inhabitants210Oddworld: New ‘N’ Tasty Out This Week on PS3https://blog.us.playstation.com/2015/04/20/oddworld-new-n-tasty-out-this-week-on-ps3/
https://blog.us.playstation.com/2015/04/20/oddworld-new-n-tasty-out-this-week-on-ps3/#commentsMon, 20 Apr 2015 17:00:08 +0000https://blog.us.playstation.com/?p=153522Hello! Twenty years ago — way back in 1994 — we at Oddworld Inhabitants started working on our first video game, which originally had the name of “SoulStorm.” It was later retitled to the name Oddworld fans now know best: “Abe’s Oddysee.” A story-based atmospheric cinematic platformer, Oddysee would go on to define the Oddworld brand — humor, epic art, great playability, and a plot that resonated far deeper than it appeared on the surface.

Thankfully, our unassuming, hapless hero Abe captured the hearts of PlayStation gamers when it was released in 1997 — and last year, the ground-up remake Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty managed the same feat on PS4, a game that really connected with critics and gamers alike.

New ‘n’ Tasty is an ambitious project for us. While it’s based on Oddysee, New ‘n’ Tasty doesn’t use a single line of the original source code; there are no visual elements recycled; most all of the audio was redone from scratch and even the cutscenes were completely re-built.

And, of course everything is now in full 3D, with dynamic lighting, responsive AI, and ragdoll physics for added hilarity.

That all means that every version of the game needs love, care, and dedication to make it look, feel and play the best for that platform. We’ve taken everything on board regarding the PS4 version over the months since release (including the addition of classic “old-school” controls) and are now ready to announce that the PS3 version will be out this week.

New ‘n’ Tasty is a game forged very much by our fans. Our fans helped name the game, voice acted as Mudokons in the game, and helped name the PlayStation Trophies — they even decided which game we should actually make in the first place. So this latest Oddworld title is very much our way of saying thanks for the years of dedicated support.

We’re really excited about the PS3 version. The developers at Just Add Water in the UK have worked tirelessly over the last few months, and all the hard work and dedication has resulted in a faithful version of the game, standing up nicely against its PS4 sibling.

New ‘n’ Tasty will be yours to download from the PlayStation Store this week — and remember it’s cross buy with other PlayStation formats of the game.

For those that don’t know the game, Abe is back after starring in the first two Oddworld games (and this year’s Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty on PlayStation 4), but now he’s playing second fiddle to a new hero called Munch. Munch is a Gabbit, and the last of his kind. As their guardian angel, it’s your destiny to bring his species back from the brink of extinction.

Munch and Abe’s destination is Vykkers Labs, a floating pharmaceutical station running all sorts of grizzly experiments on Oddworld’s cutest critters in the name of a better fabric softener. It’s here they’ll find not only stockpiled Mudokon eggs on sale to factory owners as cheap labor, but also the last can of Gabbiar, the disgusting delicacy that is raw Gabbit eggs.

On their way they’ll infiltrate factories and bankrupt the CEOs by donating to a corrupt charity that’s funding their latest Oddysee.

Munch’s Oddysee carries many similar themes and mechanics to Abe’s Oddysee, including the planned extinction of a species, rescuing slaves and test subjects, and the ability to take control of your enemies, but expands massively with the option to switch characters at any time, pick up and throw objects, swim in water, and use new GameSpeak to incite slave rebellions, native uprisings and lab rat revolutions.

It was originally the company’s first venture into 3D games for Oddworld back in 2001, but has been re-crafted for Vita using the same enhanced graphics and tightened controls as the PlayStation 3 version of a couple of years back. We think it’s a great fit for the handheld, and are delighted to finally offer it.

Please note that the game is only available in English.

Oddworld fans waiting patiently for even more Abe should rest assured that we’re still working hard on the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3 versions of Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty, too – we hope to have more details on those versions soon.

]]>https://blog.us.playstation.com/2014/12/16/oddworld-munchs-oddysee-hd-leaps-to-ps-vita-today/feed/23https://blog.us.playstation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/munchs.jpg3.31Community Manager, Oddworld Inhabitants235Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty Story Trailer Debutshttps://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/11/14/oddworld-new-n-tasty-story-trailer-debuts/
https://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/11/14/oddworld-new-n-tasty-story-trailer-debuts/#commentsThu, 14 Nov 2013 17:00:26 +0000https://blog.us.playstation.com/?p=120819To celebrate the impending European launch of PlayStation 4, we here at Oddworld and Just Add Water (Developments) wanted to give everyone something a little New ‘n’ Tasty.

So alongside the various exclusive screenshots for Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty you see here, you’ll also find our very first story trailer below, showing off the exquisite environments Abe finds himself in.

Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty is a nostalgialicious remake of our first Oddworld game, Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, built from the ground up for PlayStation platforms, with brand new next-gen technology.

Over the last 12 months since we last showed New ‘n’ Tasty, we’ve been hard at work bringing the game to life, and we’re delighted to announce that we’ll be releasing in spring 2014 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PS Vita.

Thanks to all the Oddworld fans around the world for the much appreciated support, and we’ll have much more to show in the coming months. Until then, keep an eye on the official website at oddworld.com and stay up-to-date on all things Oddworld by following us on Facebook and Twitter.

Until then!

]]>https://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/11/14/oddworld-new-n-tasty-story-trailer-debuts/feed/28https://blog.us.playstation.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/oddworld.jpg4.16CEO, Just Add Water282Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty Coming to PS4https://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/06/10/oddworld-new-n-tasty-coming-to-ps4/
https://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/06/10/oddworld-new-n-tasty-coming-to-ps4/#commentsTue, 11 Jun 2013 02:17:32 +0000https://blog.us.playstation.com/?p=108235PlayStation 4, featuring all the gameplay you expect from the original, revamped, remade and reprocessed in the glorious Unity3D game engine. We’ve worked hard to bring you the Abe you know and love, kicking and screaming into 2013.]]>“This… is RuptureFarms.”

Any fan of the original PlayStation remembers Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee. The demo is famously found on the disc that came with your brand spanking new PSX, introducing an entire generation of gamers to the rich and twisted universe of the cinematic Oddworld games. Since then, we’ve seen Abe join a new friend in Munch’s Oddysee, and resurface in the modern remake of Abe’s Oddysee, New ‘n’ Tasty, first shown off at Eurogamer Expo 2012.

We’re proud to announce that Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty will be launching on PlayStation 4, featuring all the gameplay you expect from the original, revamped, remade and reprocessed in the glorious Unity3D game engine. We’ve worked hard to bring you the Abe you know and love, kicking and screaming into 2013.

That’s right, Abe is truly coming home again. After a half-decade hiatus from making games, Oddworld Inhabitants is now a proudly independent micro-publisher, working with the hugely talented team at Just Add Water (Developments), Ltd. on the new title.

Abe first appeared back in 1997 as a 2D, pre-rendered platform game, featuring Hollywood quality video cutscenes and story. A lot has changed in the 15+ years since. PS4 is able to create lush, beautiful environments with ease, and we will make the most of that!

When we have such powerful tools to hand, you’ll be able to see the horror on Abe’s face as he lands in a new part of Rupture Farms. The world will come alive around you, revealing more uniquely Oddworld creatures, plants and details. Cutscenes have been beautifully remade and animated by previous Oddworld Inhabitants employees.

We’ve also re-examined all the levels. The original game featured flip-screen gameplay, whereby each level was broken down into single screens. Changing to a scrolling system, whereby the level is presented to the player as they moved, meant adapting some of the AI, level design and puzzles to better suit a seamless, dynamic and living Oddworld.

We know you’re all eager to get your hands on the game — so are we! Details about the release date, price and the chance to see more of the game will be released in the coming months.
Keep checking www.oddworld.com for more news, screenshots and videos. If you want to stay busy in the meantime, check out all the Oddworld games on the PSN Store!

]]>https://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/06/10/oddworld-new-n-tasty-coming-to-ps4/feed/18https://blog.us.playstation.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/oddworld.jpg4.23PR & Community Manager, Oddworld Inhabitants, Inc.185Munch’s Oddysee HD on PSN Todayhttps://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/12/24/munchs-oddysee-hd-on-psn-today/
https://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/12/24/munchs-oddysee-hd-on-psn-today/#commentsMon, 24 Dec 2012 18:42:13 +0000https://blog.us.playstation.com/?p=94252Just Add Water, with help from the programming staff at Four Door Lemon, worked hard over the last 18 months to bring you an updated version of Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee on PS3.
Gamers met the crazy planet of Oddworld back on the original PlayStation, with Abe’s Oddysee and Abe’s Exoddus quickly becoming classics. If you played those games, you’ll remember the reluctant hero’s destiny to rescue his fellow Mudokons from corporate slavery at the hands of Glukkon Companies Rupture Farms and SoulStorm Brewery.]]>

Munch the Gabbit is now in HD! The team at Just Add Water, with help from the programming staff at Four Door Lemon, worked hard over the last 18 months to bring you an updated version of Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee on PS3.

Gamers met the crazy planet of Oddworld back on the original PlayStation, with Abe’s Oddysee and Abe’s Exoddus quickly becoming classics. If you played those games, you’ll remember the reluctant hero’s destiny to rescue his fellow Mudokons from corporate slavery at the hands of Glukkon Companies Rupture Farms and SoulStorm Brewery.

Munch first burst onto our screens in 2002 (on that other console that sounds like egg-fox), following in the footsteps of the now-classic Abe games. Another reluctant hero, the diminutive Munch, is the last of his kind. His mission: To escape from the evil Vykkers Labs, save all the lab animals and liberate a can of Gabbiar, using the eggs to get his species going again. All with the help of Abe, of course!

We have no doubt that one look at these screenshots will bring all those childhood memories rushing back. Just don’t cry on us, though, or we’ll get all emotional too.

So, what’s new in Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee? Enhanced assets featuring fully remodeled characters, for one, as well as high-resolution textures for crisper-looking environment detail. We’ve also included new audio fit for PS3, DualShock 3-centric controls, unlockable art, and 46 Trophies — including a Platinum!

Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee HD is now available on PS3 in North America, starting today. PS Vita owners won’t have long to wait, with a version due out early next year.

We hope it’s worth the wait! Let us know what you think in the comments.

]]>https://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/12/24/munchs-oddysee-hd-on-psn-today/feed/33https://blog.us.playstation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/oddworld-munch-hd-06.jpg3.95CEO, Just Add Water330Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD on PS Vita Todayhttps://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/12/18/oddworld-strangers-wrath-hd-on-ps-vita-today/
https://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/12/18/oddworld-strangers-wrath-hd-on-ps-vita-today/#commentsTue, 18 Dec 2012 20:07:37 +0000https://blog.us.playstation.com/?p=93696PS Vita! The heroes at JAW beavered away since the launch of the handheld in February 2012 to bring you the most the console has to offer.
PS Vita users might still be waiting for the chance to play Munch, but just in time for the holidays, here’s Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD. We’re bringing an enhanced version of the much-loved classic to PlayStation Store later today.
Like the PS3 version before it, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD features high-quality graphical assets, better textures and high poly models. But this isn’t a lazy port… The game makes use of PS Vita’s touchscreen and rear touchpad for added controls and runs at the native screen resolution to give you a genuine Vita experience.
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What can a small team achieve in 10 months? How about porting a classic Oddworld console game to the PS Vita! The heroes at JAW beavered away since the launch of the handheld in February 2012 to bring you the most the console has to offer.

PS Vita users might still be waiting for the chance to play Munch, but just in time for the holidays, here’s Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD. We’re bringing an enhanced version of the much-loved classic to PlayStation Store later today.

Like the PS3 version before it, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD features high-quality graphical assets, better textures and high poly models. But this isn’t a lazy port… The game makes use of PS Vita’s touchscreen and rear touchpad for added controls and runs at the native screen resolution to give you a genuine Vita experience.

The game sees you take the role of the mysterious bounty hunter Stranger on a mission to clean up the Oddworld’s Wild West. So what if you happen to profit from it, right? After all, the money is needed for important surgery! Gameplay features a unique ammo system that’s live… literally! From the wisecracking Chippunks to the ferocious Fuzzles, your ordinance is there to help you out of sticky situations however you choose to play the game.

Stranger’s Wrath for PS Vita will be out later today in North America. Stick this in your digital Christmas stocking! How does the PS Vita version stack up? Let us know in the comments.

]]>https://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/12/18/oddworld-strangers-wrath-hd-on-ps-vita-today/feed/60https://blog.us.playstation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/8284206373_49ccf1c871_b.jpg4.27CEO, Just Add Water6015Behind The Classics – Oddworld: Abe’s Oddyseehttps://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/09/28/behind-the-classics-oddworld-abes-oddysee/
https://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/09/28/behind-the-classics-oddworld-abes-oddysee/#commentsFri, 28 Sep 2012 15:00:19 +0000https://blog.us.playstation.com/?p=86116This week’s instalment in our ongoing Behind The Classics series takes us to the weird and wonderful land of Oddworld. It might not have sold 20 million copies, but few games released in the PlayStation era have such a loyal following as Abe’s Oddysee and its sequels. And with good reason – Lorne Lanning’s beautiful side-scrolling fantasy adventure is one of the richest, most singular game worlds ever created and its hero, Abe, one of gaming’s most eccentric protagonists.

With an HD remake currently in development, we caught up with the game’s creator to find out how the 1997 original came into being. Sit back and enjoy – and if you’re new to the title remember that it’s available to download on PSN.

Fred Dutton, PlayStation.Blog Europe Manager: What was the original concept for the game?
Lorne Lanning, President, Oddworld Inhabitants: On a very practical level, we were striving for a deeper and more engaging sense of story and emotional character development for games. We brought character development, production design, animation, and effects from the film industry. We wanted to feel like you were playing not just a challenge, but someone’s fate – someone that you had to be responsible for.

On a more philosophical level, I wanted to take the most pop of pop culture, and convert it into meaningful modern day myths that would have great appeal to a wider audience. We also believed that people could find more empowering messages through gaming. So we targeted the anti-hero as our main character. Abe wasn’t the muscle-bound superhero that you wanted to be – he was the rather pathetic chump that you actually are. It was about rendering the journey out of the more powerless beings that we see ourselves as and at the place we most typically are, which is at the bottom of the global corporate food chain.

On a business level, we believed that if we could crack the conceptual goals mentioned above, then we had a chance at establishing a quality brand that distinguished itself by offering its audience a more intelligent – albeit sarcastically ironic – perspective to engage with.

At the time, we believed that the space was wide open to create a brand of quality and integrity around the dysfunctional cracked mirror of our real world as reflected into our mythically hilarious and pathetic world, then we could establish a brand that would stick into the future.

PSB: Where did you look for inspiration when deciding on the game’s look and feel?
LL: While 3D was the big emerging new real time tech of the PS1 era, it didn’t appeal to me at all as I had already been dealing with 3D graphics for a decade before I talked Sherry McKenna into founding Oddworld with me. We knew very well the capabilities that 3D was not going to deliver for console gaming at that time. Instead, we focused on creating the lifelike aspects of the characters and environments. Their animations, their sound effects – we were aiming for it to feel more like film.

It was film that was the key inspiration, but from games the most fun I personally had, aside from pure racing and arcade-style games, was the great early side-scrollers like Prince of Persia, Out of This World and Flashback. I loved those games, but most importantly those games made me feel like I was controlling a lifeform more than a piece of art in some challenge contest.

The animations, the locked camera, the movie-esque tone and vibe of those games blending story, action and adventure in clever, focused ways engaged me in ways that I found more inspiring.

So while most developers were heading for 3D, we were heading for deeper characters and more emotionally meaningful play. For me, it was not about the tech. It was about the narrative and having the gameplay take some interesting new twists to make the mechanics of challenge more tightly interwoven into the character and story.

PSB: It really set the standard for 2D visuals when it was released. Was it a tough game to develop?
LL: It was hell. We had all kinds of things going wrong, and quite frankly it would have failed to reach the shelf had Sherry McKenna not been one seriously badass negotiator and strategist. The team stuck through some hard times and people wanted to do a great job with the project, but Sherry was the enabler to make all that happen. She kept the money flowing while other companies were being cut.

Considering the obstacles, it was harder than I ever imagined it would be. Logically speaking, we should have failed, but our deep commitment and our absolute determination under the leadership of a relentlessly optimistic force – aka Sherry – we actually prevailed. But it was a killer building the company, an engine, and the game all with one budget. It was painful.

PSB: Which element of the game are you most proud of, and which element, if any, do you feel fell short? Any regrets about the checkpoint system?
LL: Well, yeah, the checkpoint system was such a cluster**** it was maddening. This was down to coding issues and having a very challenging time getting code and design and direction on the same page. It was a new company, it was new people working together, it was a crazy ambitious effort for us… and we completely screwed the save system by release. UGH! It hurt, but we shipped and while it was imperfect we swore we wouldn’t make the same mistakes again. We fixed that issue on Abe’s Exoddus and even created the “quick save” to really drill that issue home that we would never make that mistake again.

PSB: What do you see as the game’s legacy? How would you like it remembered?
LL: I think the game served a lot of people who wanted to see deeper and more developed characters in games that had more real world relevance to them. I believed, and still do, that the audience wants richer entertainment than they are currently getting.

I also hear a lot of people in the business claim the game inspired them to want to start making games. But I have to say the most intangible rewards were the heart-breaking and inspiring fan mails from people whose lives the game so deeply affected. It’s uncanny the impact the game had on some people, but it was why I personally wanted to make the games.

I believed the power of the medium could have greater and more nutritious impact that added something to people’s lives and perspectives on the high-jinxed world around them, full of lies and deception being brought to them by governments and corporations.

There was one fan who swears the game saved his life, who was actually a 72 year old man who we decided to name a character after in our second game, Abe’s Exoddus. He was Alf Gamble. When we read his hand written multi-paged letter… all of us cried. It was a killer, it was sincere, and it was a heartbreaker.

It was only about six years ago that I told our agent at the time, “Larry, don’t you get it!? Our classic Abe games are history. The systems that played them are gone and they aren’t coming back. Ours is a disposable medium and we don’t have a Turner Classics channel.” He looked at me with this defeated expression and said, “Dude, that’s the most depressing thing I’ve ever heard you say.” He believed me, and I too believed it at the time.

Six years later and I have to admit it’s great being proved wrong.

We couldn’t have been more thrilled when we learned that the PlayStation Network was willing to offer our classic Abe games to an entirely new generation of gamers. Finally, gamers who never got the chance to meet and play him when he first came out on the PSone system, will now get that chance to meet the guy who graced many magazine covers and proved the unlikely hero that captured people’s hearts.

We poured years of our lives into both Abe games as part of the love affair that we had with the original PSone system. It was our first character and story to be developed by our new company and I had promised Sherry McKenna, Oddworld CEO, that we would create characters that even she would love. Characters that would make her laugh and that she could be proud of, even though she didn’t care about games. (To this day, Abe is still her favorite)

Gaming seemed such a blank slate of possibilities back then. It was an early super-cool medium with which we could start telling stories of our own. We wanted characters living through stories that might inspire people while still enabling them many hours of challenge and entertainment. We wanted to integrate the best of our previous trade from the visual effects field to delve deeper into the storytelling potential with this exciting, rapidly evolving interactive medium.

We also wanted characters whose score was kept by their karma, not by their number of kills.

We started with Abe, the little chump trapped by the dark side of globalization who would need to find his way (and his soul) through a vast landscape of relentless hazards. He was to be the lovable hero trying to survive heavily armed idiots and hungry critters of the carnivorous kind.

He was designed to cause as many laughs as he would accomplishments, and we wanted him to be remembered.

Now here we are today and because of SCEA and PSN, Abe’s goofy face and doofy walk are finding their way back into gamers’ homes once again. Abe finds a new generation of gamers on PSN, but this time it’s without the costly price of a physically distributed box product, which means Abe is now able to find his way at a ridiculously low price.

We can’t help but feel like Abe is our lost child who has finally returned home. He’s still healthy, he’s still happy, and if you read the forums lately…still holding up after all these years.